"The central doctrine of Christianity, then, is not that God is a bastard. It is, in the words of the late Dominican theologian Herbert McCabe, that if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you."--Terry Eagleton

"It is impossible for me to say in my book one word about all that music has meant in my life. How then can I hope to be understood?--Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice."--Bryan Stevenson

Monday, May 11, 2015

Out on the Weekend

So I went here over the weekend, among other places. This is San Miguel de Socorro, in New Mexico. The stained glass you see above the door there is St. Michael the archangel. There is a legend connected with the church being protected (and protecting those inside) from an Apache raid by a vision of St. Michael defending the church. Make of it what you will, but that's the reason for the name.

The Catholic church recognizes a mission/church has been on this site for 400 years (they have a lovely document issued by Pope Francis honoring their anniversary this year). This building is about 200 years old, which shows more on the interior than the outside. There is a balcony just above the entrance; the heavy beams of its floor show the marks of being hand-hewn, and are easily eight inches on a side (and if somebody looks up the details and tells me I'm wrong, this being the internet and all, I'll gladly accept the correction; I'm going from memory here).

We arrived after closing time, but a lovely person was there who opened the place for us (five minutes later and she'd have been gone). It reminded me of my church in Hecker, Illinois, with ropes for the two bells (one in each steeple, in this case), and a sense of both age, and reverence, and purpose about it. People had been coming to this place for centuries (and to this site before that) for worship and fellowship.